


Something

by alejandrathemexican



Category: How to Train Your Dragon (Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/M, Fluff and Angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-09
Updated: 2018-08-09
Packaged: 2019-06-24 07:09:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,406
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15625413
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/alejandrathemexican/pseuds/alejandrathemexican
Summary: Astrid couldn’t bring herself to really talk to him.She’d been coming to the same coffee shop for the past month, always after class, heavy smile and arms leaden with books, and pretended to study, although really, all she did was watch Hiccup Haddock (not-so-subtly, too) from the corner of her eye.





	1. Something precious

Astrid couldn’t bring herself to really talk to him.

She’d been coming to the same coffee shop for the past month, always after class, heavy smile and arms leaden with books, and pretended to study, although really, all she did was watch him (not-so-subtly, too) from the corner of her eye.

If Hiccup Haddock noticed her sitting at the same chair, every day, he hadn’t commented on it yet, and Astrid was half-glad, half-disappointed not to hear his voice longer than the two minutes it took to make her order, as she tried to pretend her heart didn’t burn when she was close enough to make out his freckles.

As she tried to pretend ignoring him wasn’t driving her crazy.

She looked away from Hiccup, who was wiping the counter clean, and pretended to focus on her reading.

She still didn’t know why she put herself through the pain of being near him; of his fingers brushing hers when she was handed her coffee, but not being able to hold his hand.

Of having to endure his polite smile.

Of having to repeat her name with her order when his was carved into her soul.

Of all the things that she’d been robbed.

That, after everything, she was invisible to him.

She glanced at Hiccup as he chatted to Fishlegs. And she thought it was wild that she’d been hanging around with them just earlier that year but now none of them remembered her.

But it was worth it.

Worth it to see him limping along.

Worth it to see him alive and well, instead of pale and still, like he’d been when she’d gotten to the hospital morgue after getting the call that her boyfriend had been…

She blinked. Her eyes were stinging; welling up. Astrid glanced around to make sure no-one was looking. She felt no shame, but she didn’t want to invite any prying questions.

Dead. For trying to save a stupid dog. Run over by a car and killed, and still and pale. So very  _pale_.

As she sat outside a woman sat down next to her and offered her an exit.

To make an exchange.

She’d reverse his death on two conditions: he’d lose all his memories of her, and she could never tell him of the deal.

Both women had kept their word.

“Hey. Are you okay?”

Astrid looked up, fingers gripping tight the covers of the book.

Hiccup still had that smile that he didn’t know was so charming. He stood next to her table, a rag in his bony hands.

“I’m fine.”

He offered her a kind but hesitant smile, “Are you sure? You’ve been staring at the same page for half an hour.”

Her book closed with a snap, her heart beat at her throat, “I…” she tried to say something, but her brain was just dazed by the fact that Hiccup was  _talking_  to her.

“Astrid, right?”

“Yeah,” she said, still staring at him.

“I remember,” he smiled, “from this morning- your cup,” he added hurriedly at her stunned look. “Can I sit down?”

She judged his lopsided smile, and the way his shoulders scrunched up so that if Astrid could hear them speak, they would say:  _‘so, what do you say, huh? Sounds good?’_ , and the way her heart skipped a beat when she looked into his forest green eyes.

Was she being given a second chance? Or a test?

She begged to whoever was listening to  _please_  let it be a second chance, because Astrid would be taking it.

Moving a pile of books from the chair to her right, she said: “This chair is free.”


	2. Something wistful

Hiccup couldn’t bring himself to really talk to her.

They’d been dating for almost 4 months now, clicking like a mechanism made in heaven, but Astrid had always kept a certain air of sadness she wouldn’t ever explain since the day he introduced himself.

He wiped his brow as he took a break from cleaning the counter in their kitchen and he surveyed the apartment they shared, and at Astrid dusting the furniture in the living room, a warm, peaceful feeling settling in his chest like a wool blanket in winter. Some people told him they were moving too fast and others (his father) that they were moving too slowly. 

Hiccup liked to think they were moving at a perfect pace; after all, things had been working great so far, with the exception of one single problem.

She paused, probably feeling his eyes on her, and turned in his direction, a smile on her face and the feather duster still in hand. “Whatcha looking at?”

“A cute butt,” he shrugged, a lazy smirk sprouting from his lips.

Something dark swirled in her eyes as she set the duster aside and approached him, a brow raising in interest, “so… how cute is my butt?” she had reached their small kitchen’s counter, splaying both hands on the plywood, face close and tilting up to challenge him.

“Very,” he said, and then he met her smiling lips with his, and for a moment, everything felt perfect.

Until they came apart, and he spotted the thing that was driving him crazy hiding in the blue water in her eyes.

Sadness. Nostalgia.

She smiled, and the smile was feeble as she reached for him again. Was she even reaching for  _him_ , anyway?

His hands moved before he’d even decided, but it was for the best.

The time to talk had come.

“Whuh…?” she tried to make out a question, but it just wouldn’t leave her mouth.

He walked around the counter, an agility to his step he hadn’t had before the prosthetic, and he gathered her in his arms with desperate strength. Astrid’s arms flew around him like second nature.

With a knot in his throat, he could barely whisper: “you’re breaking my heart, Astrid.”

She gasped, and broke away from the embrace, and her hands gripping his shoulders were the anchor he needed.

He couldn’t look at her, but she examined him anyway, mouth barely open.

After a moment, her jaw snapped closed, and she pulled him towards their bedroom and had him sit on the bed, and then sat next to him.

He still wouldn’t meet her eye.

Astrid waited for a moment and then tsked, “Hiccup…”

“-You’re in pain.”

She took a sharp breath; her nails were digging on her knees.

He glanced at her without facing her, only enough to gauge her reaction.

Astrid was fully unprepared for the conversation.

He sighed. “You don’t tell me or let me help and I can’t watch you suffer.” His voice was heated and the knot in his throat pressed harder. “Not anymore… It’s breaking my heart.”

They stood still, as they both processed the information.

Her hand was shaking as it approached him, and their old mattress groaned and squeaked as she scooted closer to him.

He let her tug on his shoulder and settle a trembling hand on his chest. He never could deny her anything so easy to give.

“I can’t tell you.”

“Don’t you trust me? No don’t answer that.”

He could feel her fingertips still on his chest.

He let out a shuddering breath, still unable to truly face her. “Why won’t you let me help? What do you have to lose?”

His t-shirt scrunched up under her fingers. “ _Everything._ ” Her voice was raw and wobbly.

Hiccup worried. He finally gazed at her. Her eyes were downcast, but he knew she was holding her tears back by the quiver of her shoulders.

He didn’t hold her. He was too afraid of the meaning of her heartbreak. But he also couldn’t leave it alone. He was too frustrated.

“Do you…” he licked his lips, “do you even  _actually_ love me?” after a pause, he added: “because I do. Love you, that is _. I love you_ , Astrid. And I trust you. And I don’t know if you’ve considered it-”

She interrupted him with a relieved laugh, tears finally spilling from her eyes. “Of course I love you.”

“Really?” he turned to face her, a smile stretching on his lips.

“Of course…” the hand that had been on his chest settled in his hip. Her head half-leaned on his chest, as if to reassure herself that he was still breathing.

That his heart was still beating.

She did that sometimes.

“I’d give anything not to lose you. Even something precious.”


End file.
